


Excavation

by Misty_Reeyus



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: Angst, During Canon, F/F, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 12:23:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11555145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misty_Reeyus/pseuds/Misty_Reeyus
Summary: “Rita went to Zaude with Judith.”





	Excavation

**Author's Note:**

> written for [Tales Femslash Week](http://talesfemslashweek.tumblr.com/) > Day 5: Tragedy

There’s no point in crying.

That’s what Rita keeps telling herself, as she steps foot onto the top platform of the Shrine of Zaude. There’s no point in crying, even if this is where it all happened, even if this is where Yuri probably fell into the ocean. There’s no point in crying, even if his body could very well be buried somewhere in the undersea rubble beneath her feet. 

There’s no point in crying, even if this might be the very spot where Yuri drew his last breath.

Not that Rita is wholly convinced that it was his last breath. She _knows_ Yuri, so she knows a stubborn idiot like him wouldn’t be killed so easily. But Imperial ships scoured those waters for days before they were finally called off, and the search party formed by Yuri’s friends checked out all the surrounding ports for several days more. No dice.

Anxiety creeps up Rita’s throat all over again, and her hands clench into fists.

“Rita, are you okay?”

Judith’s voice comes from just behind her, and Rita sharply glances back at her companion, who stares back with lightly pursed lips. Judith brought her here with Ba’ul’s help and then insisted on accompanying Rita inside—and for what it’s worth, Rita does appreciate the help. Judith has been taking care of all the stuff unrelated to actual studying: defeating any monsters that lingered around, blasting away any large pieces of debris in their path, redoing puzzles as needed to facilitate their climb back up the ruins. 

Starting from the bottom and making their way to the top, Judith’s assistance has allowed Rita plenty of opportunity to explore the whole structure, to analyze this entire humongous blastia and try and work out its many complicated codes. But Rita can’t help but notice a certain edge to Judith’s actions that seems almost… _overzealous_. Like she’s trying to do _everything_ , when Rita could easily calibrate a puzzle or fireball an enemy to death by herself.

It’s been bugging her a little.

“I’m fine,” Rita manages, swallowing hard, shifting her gaze to the towering green core that remains smashed into the platform here. “I just need to get to work.”

Carefully, she sidesteps all the rubble to approach the core: the humongous, heavy stone that was apparently too dangerous and too difficult for the Knights to move. Reportedly, though, they _were_ able to extract Alexei’s remains from where he was crushed beneath this thing—so he’s definitely dead, and _good fucking riddance_. It’s that spiteful satisfaction in the knowledge that the bastard is well and truly gone that gives Rita the final push she needs, starting up the formula panel and letting her fingers trail over code.

This is the control center of the whole shrine, and finally, Rita has it all to herself. She lets her magic resonate with the core, and then watches the panel blink its data back at her: put the efficiency ratio in reverse, adjust the stabilization factor, create the requisite connection. Rita hates to admit it, but the manipulations of the formula are genius. Alexei really knew what he was doing.

…Damn it, _Alexei_.

Rita can can _feel_ him now. She can feel Alexei’s handiwork beneath her palms, far clearer here than anywhere else in the building. His adjustments to the code, his maneuvering of the aer flow, his disgusting ideals and goals and whatever the hell he was actually trying to accomplish by awakening this entire shrine. Rita closes her eyes to try and gather herself, but when she does, all she can see is his smug face as they fought, all she can think about is how he took Estelle and hurt her, hurt them all, _ruined_ them all in ways that still won’t stop even now that he’s dead. 

Gods, Rita wants to punch him. She wants to strangle him. She wants to utterly _maul_ him for letting himself die to a falling rock before she and her friends could kill him themselves—!

…Oh, _crap_ , she’s shaking.

Rita bites her lip and clenches her eyes shut even as she feels the tears already brimming. Dammit, she really thought she could handle this; she was doing just fine downstairs. But now that she’s here, directly working on the core, in the very spot where Yuri may or may not have met his end—it’s just too much. Her voice dwindles to a trembling hiccup but Rita determinedly fights back the flood, because dammit, there’s no point in crying, and _dammit_ , Rita has already cried _so damn much_ these past couple weeks…

“Rita, hey!” A hand clasps around her shoulder and tugs her around, breaking Rita’s concentration and sending the first flush of tears rolling down her cheeks. Through the humiliation, Rita glares daggers at Judith, who merely stares back for a moment before she starts rummaging through her bag. “I’ll get you some water—”

“Stop that!” Rita shouts, lashing out before she can even think to stop herself. “I told you already, I’m fine! I’m not some helpless little kid who needs to be doted on all the time!”

“That’s not what I…” Judith trails off, blinks once, twice, thrice, before her shoulders visibly droop. “I’m sorry. It’s not like I think you’re helpless.” 

“No?” Rita scoffs, wiping furiously at her still leaking eyes. “So what is it like?”

“I…I just want to do something. _Anything_. Because if I don’t…” Judith glances down. “If I don’t keep my mind occupied, I start remembering what happened here. And then I go back to worrying about Yuri. And then I keep imagining the worst even though I know that doesn’t help anyone. So I…” Judith pauses, takes a deep breath before meeting Rita’s gaze again. “I just need to get my mind off of things. So I want to help in whatever way I can.”

…Oh.

“Judith, I…” Rita trails off, unsure what she could possibly say as she gazes into deep violet eyes, so forlorn and sad and _lost_ looking that Rita sees herself reflected in them.

“I don’t want to lose him, Rita,” Judith continues, voice soft and solemn. “And I don’t want to think this, but I’m starting to believe we already hav—”

Rita launches forward before she can help herself, cutting Judith off by throwing her arms around her waist, sinking her own wet face into Judith’s chest as she finally lets herself heave with grief. Judith freezes up for several seconds before suddenly, she sinks to her knees—not from the added weight, Rita doesn’t think, but simply from sheer emotion. As if she’s been waiting for an _excuse_ to get down on her knees.

Judith buries her face in Rita’s shoulder in turn, and reaches her arms around Rita’s back, squeezing her so tight that Rita can actually _feel_ Judith’s body trembling against her. Judith doesn’t cry like Rita does, her eyes don’t wet with tears, but Rita realizes in an instant that it’s not because she isn’t sad. She may not show it very well, but Rita can tell now that Judith is just as torn up about Yuri’s disappearance as Rita is.

After all, he was one of them.

So they hold each other, both kneeling there on the top of Zaude, mourning against each other and relishing each other’s warmth until finally, Rita feels steady enough to pull away. She flushes sheepishly as Judith’s eyes follow her, then fiddles with her now wet bangs as she mumbles, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Judith breathes, her lips curling slightly upwards. “I think I needed that.”

Slowly, Rita returns the smile. “Yeah. Me too.”

Judith stares back at her for a while longer before she glances up at the sky, and Rita follows her gaze towards the creepy dark tentacles of goop that stretch over them.

“…Look,” Rita finally voices, as they both look down from the sky to lock eyes with each other. “However things turns out with Yuri, it doesn’t change that we have to keep going. I mean, there’s a humongous monster in the sky waiting to destroy us all! Even if we have lost him, he would want us to fight.”

“Agreed.” Judith nods. “Like I said, I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Rita bites her lip. With a flick of her finger, she reopens the formula panel.

“In that case, could you just…stay here with me?” Rita does her best to suppress the heat she can feel rushing to her cheeks. “M-maybe gimme a back rub while I do this? After everything that’s happened, I could use one.”

Judith smiles before shifting around, and Rita exhales slowly as hands settle against her nape. Already, Rita seems to _melt_ beneath that touch, beneath the assurance and safety and warmth.

“Yeah,” Judith says, and begins kneading her knuckles firmly, _wonderfully_ into the flesh between neck and shoulder. “I can manage that.”


End file.
